The Great Ball
by allinsonbermudezgmail.com
Summary: Demetrius, a wealthy man from Macedonia, is being deported from Athens because of an accusation of murder. He and his father, Oberon, are in search for an Athenian woman who will marry him. Hermia is in luck, as her family is bankrupt. Will Hermia accept marrying this man, or will they discover something far more important?


**The Great Ball**

"I will never admit to this monstrosity, it wasn't I who did this!" cried Demetrius to the town judge as he tried to free himself from the officers' tight grip, which settled him into a chair.

"You have no evidence that I infact committed this!" Demetrius said once again to the judge. His clear, shiny, blue eyes weren't as beautiful anymore, they were plain and dead. He was tired of trying to prove to the judge that he wasn't guilt of the murder of Arnold Vanderbilt. His blonde hair which was always nicely combed, had specks of dirt, food and god knows what else. He was being held captive in the Athenian town until the judge decided what to do with him.

"We must give you a penalty for this crime!" the judge said sternly.

"I'm a very rich man, I can give you any amount of money requested", Demetrius said without hesitation as he sat in the chair, with pleading looks.

"Your money won't work on us," the judge said feeling insulted. Did this man really think the judge could be bought? He chuckled, stroked his beard and looked up to the ceiling as if he was thinking very hardly. "You will be deported back to Macedonia, where you are from." the judge stated quickly and in a mocking tone. "You can let this man go now officers."

The two officers, who had a hold on Demetrius, let go of him, nodded and retreated. The judge watched as the officers left, and traced his eyes back to Demetrius.

Demetrius' eyes were full of rage and suddenly he stood up and with all his anger he said,

"You can't do this! I I I have already settled my life here!", stuttering quite a bit. His life was over, his so called perfect life was over.

The judge's decision was final, the Athenian law stated that when a man is being charged for murder, but there is no evidence to proof it and he's not from Athens, he must be deported to wherever they were born. To follow this, Demetrius had to be deported back to Macedonia.

Demetrius was very worried for himself, he couldn't get deported. Even though he did kill this man.

Dean Winchester was a very rich man from Germany, they were once playing poker in a casino and Winchester won a hand in which they had both gambled each others houses. When Demetrius realized he had lost, he fled town. But Dean Winchester caught up with him pretty quickly, when Demetrius realized this man wasn't going to stop he decided to kill him.

When Demetrius arrived, Dean was already there alone. Demetrius looked at the gun in his hand and then raised his hand and shot Dean. He went over to look at his victim and realized it wasn't Dean, it was just a woman... an innocent woman that did not deserve to die. Once Demetrius realized this he left the park and went back to his house. He ran into his room and layed in his bed right away, although he only slept about 10 minutes. He wasn't able to sleep because the only thing on his mind was the innocent woman laying on the floor, with blood pouring out of her head from where the bullet had wounded her.

"How could I think I was going to get away with this?" he said quietly to himself, as he settled into a nice blue chair, next to a fireplace in his luxurious home. He thought about his family and his friends and even all the money they had in Athens, there was no way he was leaving Athens.

"Isn't there any way out of this?" Demetrius questioned his father, Oberon.

He couldn't describe the regret he felt, and weirdly the guilt. He had killed many men before, but he had never felt guilty, maybe it was because he got caught, or maybe because he was had never killed a woman before, only men.

"Son, the only way you can get out of this one is to become an Athenian citizen, and I don't think that's possible" his father answered as he sat down. He looked up at Demetrius and felt disappointed. 'How is it that my son became a killer? How is it that he's being deported back to Macedonia?' Oberon thought to himself as he looked down to his hands.

Silence filled the room for a couple of minutes, only being interrupted by both of these men's sighs, full of despair. Suddenly Demetrius stood up, "what if I marry an Athenian woman? Won't I become Athenian citizen too, father?" Demetrius said hopefully, this was the only good idea he or his father had come up with.

"Um...We have to ask the officials but I'm guessing that will work!" Oberon cried with joy, as he cracked a smile which then turned into a laugh as he hugged his son. "I will get some servants to gather all Athenian woman, who are willing to marry you!" he said as he let go of his son and ran outside of the house.

Demetrius stepped out of the living room and into his room, he lied on his bed thinking about his plan; he was very worried. What if his plan didn't work? What was he going to do in Macedonia? Would he have money over there? He fell asleep a couple of hours later.

Meanwhile, in the outsides of Athens lived a young beautiful girl. Her name was Hermia, her skin was as soft as silk, her hair was long, black and was usually braided, and anyone could get lost staring at her eyes soft green eyes. Her mother was killed one night in Athens, she nor her father knew who did it. They were left with no money, because her mother had all of it. They were having a really hard time coping with her death, plus they didn't have any money to buy food or any other necessity.

Egeus, her father didn't come out of his room much, and Hermia was the same. They said only a few words to each other, and the house remained silent for the most part. After a couple of weeks of living their tough life, Egeus went out and didn't come back for a couple of hours. Hermia noticed that he had been gone for a few hours and began to worry. 'What if something happened to him? I can't live on my own, I don't have any money, I will just die too..' these all went through Hermia's mind.

Egeus had actually went out to the market to see if he could sell some of his wife's old jewelry, he had never intended on selling these because while having these he felt he was still linked to his wife in a physical and special way.

After about three hours of helplessly pleading people to buy his jewelry, nobody di. In this time people thought that if they owned something previously owned by someone who's dead then their ghost will haunt them.

Egeus was very tired and as he smelled food around he became hungrier, and the cold wind that blew in Athens made him even more exhausted than he already was.

"I give up, I can't do this. I have failed my daughter...We will both die soon!" Egeus exclaimed, as he looked up to the sky as his face scrunched his face up, and a wave of tears began falling from his eyes. He felt as if he had failed all the important people in his life.

It had already become nighttime and he was walking back to his home, the wind was blowing harder and colder than ever, so he began picking his pace up to get to his house faster.

Suddenly, as Egeus was walking down the street of his house a man showed up out of nowhere.

"Excuse me? Sir, do you have a daughter by any coincidence?" the mysterious man asked. Egeus moved his head around to try and see the man's face but he couldn't see him due to the lack of light.

"Well yes, why the question" Egeus said protectively.

"Have you heard of Demetrius? The very wealthy man? Well he's looking for an Athenian woman to marry! It's only to get the Athenian citizenship, after he does they can get divorced!" the man said persuasively to Egeus.

"Oh! My daughter is beautiful she can do that! But only if you offer her money!" Egeus said, emphasizing the word money.

"Of course! We can offer you many money! I am Demetrius' father, tomorrow we are going to host a party at our house. You might as well come with your daughter, so that Demetrius can meet her! My name is Oberon by the way! And my house is in the 99th street, to the left of the city park!" the man said happily, he was relieved he had finally found a woman for his son.

"Understood! We will be there!" Egeus said gratefully as he turned on his heel and left.

As he approximated his house he realized Hermia wouldn't want to do this. As he opened the door to his poorly lit house he decided he must tell his daughter the next day.

On the morning of the next day Egeus woke up and began shouting, "Hermia! Oh Hermia!" poking his head into her room, desperately searching for her.

"Father, what's happening?" Hermia answered disoriented, she had never seen her father talk so vividly since her mother's death.

"I have found a way to earn a lot of money!" he said as he smiled and hugged his daughter tightly.

"Tell me father! Tell me now!" Hermia cried desperately while she pulled back from the hug.

"Well, have you heard about a man called Demetrius?" Egeus said,

"Yes.. disgracefully I have." she said as she scrunched her face in disgust. Hermia had heard that Demetrius was a player, and that he had been with almost every woman in Athens.

"I haven't talked to him though, I really wish I don't ever have to" she finished off shaking her head disapprovingly.

Demetrius had a very bad reputation in Athens. He had a tendency of being with many women and being very discourteous. Helena was his ex-wife, they were both very happy, until one day Helena came back from a trip, and found Demetrius in bed with another woman. She then found out that he was with many women, while they were engaged and married. From this day on everyone in Athens knows that Demetrius isn't very honest in relationships.

"He's being deported, because of a false accusation", Egeus said excluding some important but also scary details, "and you must marry him so that he can become an Athenian citizen", Egues blurted out shamefully.

Hermia, with anger burning inside of her, screamed, "Father! How must you even consider this? Have you no decency? Are you willing to give your daughter away to any man for money?" She stepped towards her father and had her face on fire, you could see she was mad just be looking at her eyes. They were full of anger and also hurt, how could her father "sell" her.

"Hermia you know I would never do this to you, but we are desperate, I haven't eaten in days" he responded with a pleading look.

Hermia, as much as she didn't want to even stand close to Demetrius, realized it was true. She must do this for her and her father's sake.

"Ohh, alright father. I will do this, but keep in mind I'm only doing this for you and me!" Hermia said as she sighed deeply, she really didn't want to get involved with Demetrius. She didn't deserve to be treated as she knew how Demetrius was going to treat her, oh so very badly. She sat down on an old wooden bank they had in their living room, and she pondered about how her life would change. She had to live with a man she can't even talk to and even pretend she loves him.

"Demetrius! I have very good news for you! I have found a girl, an Athenian girl, which in my opinion can not be more beautiful! If you marry her, your departing problem will be solved. You will meet her today" Oberon said while he ran to his son

"Today? Where father, am I missing out on something?" a confused Demetrius said.

"Oh son! Today I'm hosting the annual Great Ball! This years party color will black, so hustle up and get ready, your black tux should be in your closet, it was brought from Italy today as you requested a couple of weeks ago."

"I'm meeting him today? At the Great Ball? Father! I have nothing to wear", cried Hermia in despair.

"Don't worry Hermia, I already bought a dress for you" said Egeus as he handed Hermia a black laced dress.

"Black? Isn't this color of too much misery for such a party?" questioned Hermia worried.

Hermia didn't worry about what she wore too much, but she was being invited to The Great Ball, where only elite people were invited. She couldn't just wear the first thing she picked out of her closet.

"No Hermia, the Great Ball is always based on a color, this year it's black!" Egeus commented.

"I will never understand rich people and their festivities" Hermia said and she sighed.

She slipped into her dress. The black dress was very tight in the upper half, there is where the lace was, and then from the hips down it was fluffy and big.

"Does this even fit me?..Oh god.. I can't breathe! It's too tight!" Hermia whined while she breathed heavily.

"Oh honey! You look beautiful! Quit whining" Egeus smiled and grabbed Hermia's hands, "the resemblance of your mother in you is incredible." His big smile fainted into a weak one, as a tear slipped from his eyes and strolled down his cheek.

"Oh dad, I wish I was as beautiful as my mother." Hermia said as she turned around losing grip of his father's hands and looking at her reflection in the mirror.

"Well honey, hurry up and finish, we must leave a quarter before 8!", her father said as he wiped some tears of his cheek.

Hermia finished getting ready and yelled out to her father so that they could leave.

"This is impossible, are you sure this is the right address?" Hermia said bewildered at Demetrius' house.

In front of the house was a giant fountain with clear blue water, and it was made of what seemed marble. The house had huge windows and you could see the bright light inside the house streaming out through the windows.

"Yes! I told you, they are of great wealth Hermia!" Egeus said while walking over and knocking on a giant wooden door with golden handles.

Oberon greeted Hermia and Egeus at the door and then, led Hermia to where Demetrius was anxiously, he really didn't want his son to mess up things with Hermia.

"THIS is your house?" Hermia asked Oberon.

"Yes, isn't it just beautiful?" Oberon said, even though it was a question it did sound more like a statement. This family wasn't modest, and everyone knew it.

"It is truly beautiful!" Hermia commented gobsmacked as she looked around the house. It seemed to Hermia that wherever she looked she would find a different piece of art, or different types of furnitures she had never even dreamed of. There were chairs in forms of circles, tables in forms of triangles and even lights which dangled only a few inches away from the floor.

"It's like a museum in here", Hermia thought to herself.

"Son! Meet Hermia!" Oberon said as he introduced her.

Demetrius turned around and was astonished by her looks.

"Greetings my lady! My father made you no justice! You are far more beautiful than I ever imagined!" he commented nervously. "Here sit, sit!" Demetrius said as he pointed and pulled out a red chair with white decorations for her next to him.

"Well thank you Demetrius!" exclaimed Hermia as she sat down, and smiled at him. He wasn't that bad..or at least that's what Hermia thought.


End file.
